天反
Good evening, this is Tenhanjii. On August 18th, I went to Tenkaippin. When passing by the front of the shop, I saw a banner that read "Ishinko MAX." "Ishinko MAX"? Ah, I see. When it comes to Tenkaippin, they occasionally have a limited edition "Kotteri MAX." "Ishinko" must be "kotteri." So, if you look at "kotteri" written horizontally from the back, it becomes "ishinko." Maybe I should try the "Kotteri MAX" once. With that in mind, I entered the shop.
Date: August 18, 2023 (Friday) around 12:10 PM
Upon arrival, it was lunchtime but there were empty seats available. I've never seen a line forming outside. I was guided to the counter seat in the front, and I looked at the menu. The "Kotteri MAX" seemed to have been added to the regular menu. It was priced at 1210 yen for regular size and 1400 yen for large. Expensive. In a regular restaurant, this price would be for a "special" dish. The ingredients seemed to be similar to the regular "kotteri" or "assari" ramen. I hesitated a bit. Looking at the table, there was a handwritten menu called "Service Lunch." It offered a "ramen and chashu rice bowl" for 1000 yen. Since the regular ramen was priced at 940 yen (expensive), for an additional 60 yen, you could get the chashu rice bowl. So, I decided to go for the Service Lunch.
The interior of the shop was the same as before. There were 5 counter seats and several 2-seater tables. On the table, there were dipping sauces for gyoza, chili oil, ramen sauce, garlic condiment, and mustard miso. After 5-6 minutes, the ramen and chashu rice bowl arrived. The chashu rice bowl had a small amount of rice in a bowl with a few thin slices of chashu on top. It looked underwhelming. The ramen had a thick, opaque light brown soup with a thin slice of chashu, 3 pieces of bamboo shoots, and a small amount of green onions, including the green parts. Although I wasn't asked about the type of ramen, the "kotteri" ramen was served as expected. Let's dig in!
- The kotteri soup was thick, as expected, and even without the MAX level, the spoon could stand in it. Chopsticks couldn't stand. The thickness was enough to support the noodles. The flavor was not as intense as I expected. According to their website, they use chicken bones and over a dozen types of vegetables, but the chicken flavor was hardly noticeable. It was just a vague umami taste. To achieve the thickness, it seemed like starchy vegetables could have been used, and there was no need for gelatin. However, even though it was thick, there was a rough texture, and it didn't feel smooth. The soup was probably made somewhere else and then heated and diluted at each shop.
- The noodles were medium-thick straight noodles. They lacked firmness and were soft. When you eat them, they naturally pick up a lot of soup.
- The chashu seemed to be made from pork shoulder, and it had a slightly unpleasant flavor at first. It was tender and thinly sliced. The flavor was hard to discern due to the overpowering soup.
- The bamboo shoots were of a very standard type, soft in texture, and not strongly seasoned. You had to eat them separately from the soup to taste them.
- The green onions were probably the type from Kyoto, crunchy and fresh. They were good, but I wished there was more of them.
- The chashu rice bowl, which was also on the regular menu for 400 yen, was different from the regular version. The official version seemed to have shredded seaweed, green onions, and pickled ginger on top, but the lunch set only had rice and chashu. It had a sweet and savory flavor added to it. Well, this would probably be worth around 200 yen. But if it comes with a 60 yen difference, it's not bad. So, I, Tenhanjii, don't dislike Tenkaippin's kotteri ramen, but I feel that the operation of the shop is lacking. And the poor cost-performance ratio is disappointing. With such high prices, it must be affecting the number of customers. Perhaps the Service Lunch is a desperate measure specific to this shop. Thank you for the meal.